


Signs

by endofunctor



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-11
Updated: 2012-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-29 08:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endofunctor/pseuds/endofunctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stories of the 12 trolls told in the shape of their signs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Signs

  
                    Life                       Death  
               on Alternia                 isn't quite as  
             may have  had its         bad as you   thought  
           bad breaks,   had its      it'd be         in that  
          highs            game's death toll           ghostly      
         & its              has been paid              robotic  
        lows,               in full  with               shell,   
        but                  interest. The                but  
       the                   time to dance                 the  
                             to time's own  
                             deathly waltz  
                             is over now;  
                             you're alive  
                              and  happy  
                              once more,  
                              and you do  
                              very much  
                              intend on   
                               staying  
                                that  
                                 way  
                                  .  


 

  
          It starts                                  with a soft  
            whispering                            at the back  
              of your head as the sounds of the dead and  
                the damned grow louder and louder and  
                  louder until your eyes pop and it  
                         leaves            you  
                         scream            ing  
                         wonder            ing  
                          why             they  
                         won't            just  
                          shut             up,  
                          shut             up,  
                          2hut            UP!!!  
                          and             then  
                         you're           dead.  
                 But not for long, because there's yet  
              more to be done. You were always fated to  
            die twice,                         so you awake  
           on Derse                                and start  
         to play                                        the game.  
    


 

  
   You'd always                                                    dreamed of  
        flying,  of                                         letting the  
           wind  blow                                   beneath your  
            feet as you                               soar through  
              the country-                            side without  
               a care in the                        world, besides  
                your FLARPing                       and beside  
                your   lusus.                       Unluckily,  
                Pupa Pan only                      shows up  
                   to   those                   trolls who  
                       completely            believe,  
                      not in him but in themselves, and  
                  the fake confidence that  Rufio gave you  
                 you    just                 simply couldn't  
               make up for                      it. Twice she  
               gave you a                        chance for you  
               to redeem                        yourself, but  
                it was too                      little, too  
                  late. You                  might not have  
                    deserved                it all, but  
                     that doesn't change the fact that  
                         it's adios, Toreasnore.  


 

  
                             You are Karkat Vantas, and   
                         you're  a  natural-born  leader with  
                   righteous fury, a perfect example of your race.  
                  One day you'll be a threshecutioner,  striking fear  
              into the hearts of                         renegade trolls  
          all across       the majestic                   Alternian empire.  
       You know              that this is                        what you were  
      hatched to             do, you know                          know that it's  
     been your                 purpose ever                         since you tore  
     your way from            the brooding                             caverns onto  
      the unforgiving        surface of  
         the Alternian deserts. You're                       Except none  
             a ruthless killing                          of that is true in the  
                   machine.                         slightest.         You   hide       
                                                   behind               a hardened  
                                                 outward                 shell   of  
                                                 inventive               invective,  
     as your friends                              fall apart;            even   the   
      universe that you                             wrought with        your blood  
        and sweat and tears                          treats you with impudence;  
          it's all fueled by                  your self-hatred reflected at  
            the world that cursed you with the symbol of a long-forgotten  
                  heretic. But really? It doesn't matter. Because they  
                      all know it's all a charade. And they all  
                           appreciate you just the same.  
                             If only you believed it.  


 

  
                              You saw him  
                       die hiding      in grates,  
                     you saw the         highblood  
                    choke  the            life out of  
                    your best              furiend, your  
                   meowrail.                You knew that  
                   you didn't               have a chance  
                   against him,             but you knew  
                     that you'd            rather die  
            and live  in a dream          a bubble  
          with      him than hide       and  win  a  
       hollow        victory. So       you pounced  
     scratched      and fought         but all to  
       no avail.   You died           there in   
         the lab, but   at           least you  
           died with him.          In the end  
                                 your moirail  
                                is the most  
                               impurrtant  
                              thing in the  
                             world to you.  
                              And now you  
                                can be        with him  
                                 together, furever.  
                     


 

  
     You'd always      But like         When you     
      tried  your    you'd always    found them,  
       hardest  to     said, each      the showdown  
       live  up to     one of you      of murderers  
       your handle,    has a very      hoping to re-       deem   
       to help the     important       themselves   through   killing  
       rebirth  of     job  to do.     the others, you         knew just   
       troll-kind.     You   came      what   you               had to do.         
       But   your      back blood-     Your turn                to shine.  
       friend had      less   and      You kick the             clown  in  
       turned, his     bloodthirty     the bulge,               claim his  
       allegiance      and full of     trophy for               your own.  
       shifted. He     desire   to     The prince,              your killer,  
       killed you      auspistice      he deserves              more than  
       & left you      'tween Erid-    you    can              give him.  
       for   dead.     an's halves.    You'll have            to settle  
       Arming him      And   while     for simply           chainsawing  
       with wands      you're   at     him in two.         And   your   
       might have      it, perhaps     erstwhile          unrequited  
       been     a      establish       matesprit?       She very well  
       mistake.        superiority.    deserves a     death of her  
                                        own. But you aren't  the  
                                         one to give it to her;  
                                      you'd rather just  
                                  tell her: you're finished  
                               with putting      up with   her.  
                           You're your own            troll now.  


 

  
                         You swear you can  
                    hear Redglare's voice in your  
                 ear through the    centuries that  
                separate the          two of you, and  
              she's telling             you to kill your  
            best   enemy,                your worst friend,  
          your kismesprit                    your matesis,  
          sight-robber                         companion  
           manipulator                          confidante  
             pirate                              partner  
               murderer                        Vriska.  
  But you can see the dread             Marquise Spinneret Mindfang must  
  be brought to justice and             you are just  the  one to do it.  
  Your cane goes in  clean,             but  it comes out  stained sour.

 

  Her body falls to the ground in a blueberry pool, so dark against her  
  orange god-tier outfit.  You murmur a quiet apology into the infinite  
  void of the Veil,  but both of you always knew it would end like this.  


 

  
    You won. You               But                   Then  
       got all of        a Marquise needs      you found John.  
        the levels,     a Summoner  to  be     He was every-  
         and all the       hers and despite     thing you had  
         sweet  loot.       all your effort,    hoped for and  
         There   isn't      he was nowhere      somehow more.  
         a  troll  who      near what  the      He trusted you  
         can withstand      journals  that      completely, no  
         the spider8ite     you'd stayed up     matter    how  
         and  FLARPers      reading all day     foolish it may  
         all over cower     said he'd be.       have been. And  
         at the thought     Even when you       in him you found  
         of  the dread-     killed him in       what you might  
         ed Mindfang.       the Veil, you       have missed.  
         And the best       didn't feel the     He could have  
         part is, you       satisfaction        taught you how  
         have even come     you hoped you       to be a human,  
         to   believe       would. Only         how  to  live  
         your own lies.     emptiness came.     life the way                          And  
                                                  he lived his.                       now he  
                                                  But then  your  future  bled  out   doesn't even  
                                                   onto that dull, gray stone floor.  remember  
                                                                                      who you  
                                                                                      are.  


 

  
                                Your fierce   loyalty to your  
                                moirail despite her low blood  
                                (you gave her your old jacket)  
                                         was always your most  
                                         powerful    strength,  
                                      and unfor-     tunately,        
                                     also your       greatest  
                  weakness.        In the end,     your b100-  
                    b100ded      instincts &       desire to   
                     protect   your moirail        
                       left you at, as  
                        you'd punningly put  
                       it, cross purposes.  
                    Perhaps it would've  
                  been better   not to have  
                 sought the      highblood.  
              But what's         done's is  
            still done.            
          And    she  
        fur-gives  
      you always.  


 

  
    You used                      to cloud your  
      think pan                 with that poison   
       sopor slime             and hide   the true  
       self beneath           a   smog     of honks.  
        There    was         nobody to      stop you  
         from wasting       your true       potential  
         on juggling       clubs and         miracles.  
          But then you     stopped            and for  
          the first time, you felt            yourself.  
           You struck back at the              ones who   had mocked  
             you, you gave Dave                 dreams that would now  
             haunt him for the                   the rest       of that  
               pathetic  life.                    And you       know the  
                best part of                     the ult-         imate  
                                                joke the game had told,  
                                               is that  you'll get away  
                                              with it.   Because  
                                           they can't  
                                          kill you now  
                                        that you've  
                                      turned over  
                                   a new leaf.  
                    After all, it wasn't your  
                    motherfucking fault,  
                    was it?  
                                  


 

  
               You are              going to                 murder  
            all the   land        dwellers. You're         going   to fill  
          all   of     your     quadrants,   and Fef      will      be your  
        matesprit.      You    could even     get Karkat to           be your  
       kismesis!         Or   maybe             Vriska! You           are going  
     to be the            scourge                 of the               high seas.

 

                 But you             know none               of that  
           really       will     ever happen, be-          cause  you made  
         your own        death   warrant      when      you be-     trayed  
      your kind           killed your          Empress and when      you ruined  
     the matri-            orb.  You             died just like        you had  
    lived:                 torn apart              by your              quadrants  


 

  
        From the very                                     start, you  
           had   always                               believed that  
             your destiny                            was  uniting  
               landdwellers                        & seadwellers  
                  together,                      to usher  in  
                   a new era                   of tolerance.  
                   Whether they               wanted   it  
                    or not. In               retrospect  
                    that might               have been  
                    kiiind  of               naive .  
 And now the seadwellers are  gone,  killed by the self-same  bloodthirstiness  
 that drove the Empress's  fleet across thousands on thousands of light-sweeps  
 to dominate any species with the sheer gall to live on a resource-rich planet.  
                    But while                you drift  
                    among the                bubbles of  
                   dreams you                  see another  
                session, the                    one that you  
              created. They                      definitely  
             do look  like                         they could use  
           help! It's cute                           how glubbing  
         scared they are                              of the gods.  
       They want to be                                  your fronds!  



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